Advertising card display sign



Nov.. 17, 1936.

E, FISH l 2,060,982

ADVERTISING CARD DISPLAY SIGN Filed May 18, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet, 1,

New

www ll\ Il Il Il C) Il 1| h ATTOR NEY Nov. 17, 1936. E. FlsH 2,060,982

ADVERTISING CARD DISPLAY SIGN Filed May 18, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 EIEIE. IIUIIIIIIMF llll l;

E, FISH Nov. 17, 1936.

ADVERTISING CARD DISPLAY SIGN 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 18 INV E N TO R fda/arq Pis/1 ATTORNEY X E e lfllsrl. lllllllll l il. n.

Nov. 17, 1936.

E. FISH ADVERTISING CARD DISPLAY SIGN Filed May 18, 1956 4 sheets-sheet 4 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 17, 1936 UNITED STTES rs FFICE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to advertising signs and more particularly is directed to an improvement in the construction of signs for incorporating therein a plurality of advertising cards, said signs having novel means for automatically changing the cards displayed on opposite sides of the sign intermittently at desired time intervals.

The object of this invention is to generally improve advertising signs of the character described which shall comprise few and simple parts that are readily assembled to form a construction which will give reliable automatic operation for intermittently changing advertising cards incorporated therewith at desired time intervals, which shall be relatively cheap to manufacture yet form a neat and attractive structure, and which shall be practical and eicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplied in the construction hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the possible illustrative embodiments of this invention,

Figure l is a front elevational view of an advertising card display sign, constructed to embody the invention partly broken away to show certain features of the interior construction.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the improved sign 'shown in Figure l, showing the top cover broken away to expose part of the interior construction.

Figures 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken on lines 3 3 in Figure 2 and lines 4 4 in Figure 1, respectively.

Figures 5 and 7 are fragmentary cross-sectional views taken on lines 5 5 and 1 1, respectively, in Figure 4.

Figures 6 and 8 are fragmentary cross-sectional views taken on lines 6 6 in Figure 5 and lines 8 8 in Figure '7, respectively.

Figure 9 is a detail view corresponding to a cross-sectional View taken on lines 9 9 in Figure 3, showing the position of the flexible carrier or snake member on which advertising cards are mounted during automatic intermittent changing thereof.

Figure l0 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Figure 9, showing the position of said carrier or snake member on the completion of the automatic intermittent changing of the advertising cards.

Figure 11 is a front elevational view of the flexible carrier or snake member on which the advertising cards are mounted removed from the sign.

Figure l2 is a side elevational View of the ilexible carrier or snake shown in Figure ll, and

Figures 13 and 14 are fragmentary cross-sectional views taken on lines l3 |3 and l4 |4 in Figure l1.

Referring now to the drawings, 20 denotes an advertising sign of the character described embodying the invention. In the form here shown, said sign includes automatic means for intermittently changing a plurality of advertising cards incorporated in the sign and displayed on opposite sides thereof. As seen from Figures 1 to 8, inclusive, said sign 2!! preferably is mounted y on a base or foot board member 2l and has a 20 casing 22 formed with an upright front wall 22a provided with a window opening 22h, an upright rear wall 22c having a window opening 22d, and upright end,- walls 22m, 22m of semi-circular cross-sectional shape, said casing 22 being provided with a top` closure plate 22e having air circulating vents 22k. The front opening 22h and rear opening 22d may be provided with a suitable transparent closure, such as glass windows 23. The opposite upright end walls 22m, 22p of said casing 22 may be formed with outwardly extending ribs 22g for reinforcing the casing structure 22 and to provide an ornamental trimming thereof, said ribs 22g connect with outwardly projecting border portions 22h extending about the rim of the window opening 22h and 22d, as is shown in Figure 1.

The foot board member 2| and said casing 22, fitted with the windows 23 as described above, are thus seen to form a neat and attractive appearing structure for completely enclosing the movable and stationary parts of an automatic mechanism which carries and changes one of a plurality of advertising cards C displayed at each of the front and rear Windows 23.

The advertising cards C may be either printed or lithographed on the back and the front of a suitable sheet material such as cardboard or metal, and may be printed on one side, or two cards C assembled back to back, said cards C being mounted on a flexible carrier or snake member 30 as shown in Figures 11 to 13, inclusive. Said carrier or member may comprise a pair of spaced uprights 3l, each having a longitudinally extending channel Bla, said uprights 3| being interconnected by a series of links 32, each also having a longitudinally extending channel 32a. Said links and uprights are flexibly connected together through suitable hinging means, such as pivoting rivets 33. The links 32 are made short enough so that they will readily conform in curvature to the radius of a guiding means, in the manner hereafter described. Uprights 3| are spaced to conform to the length of the advertising cards C to be displayed and are of a height to correspond to the width of such cards.

Each of said uprights 3| has outwardly projected therefrom in the plane of the links 32, an ear 34 which carries to project downwardly therefrom a roller 35. As shown in Figure 14, the roller 35 is journalled on a pin shaft 3S, which in turn is riveted at 33a to the ear 34. A spacing collar 3T is provided between the roller 35 and the ear 34 for positioning the roller at a desired distance down from said ear 34. The extreme upper end portions 3|a of each of the uprights 3| are preferably enlarged and are of circular crosssectional shape to serve as a spacing means. The lower end portions 3| b of said uprights adjacent to the ear 34 are also of enlarged shape to correspond to the width of the links 32 for the same purpose.

To retain the cards C from being accidentally displaced from their seated position in the channels 3|arl of the uprights 3| and link channels 32a, suitable means are provided, as for example, a spring strip 38 which is riveted at 38a and carries adjacent the end 38C thereof opposite said rivet 38a, a piercing prong 38h, the latter being adapted to enter an opening 3 lc provided in each of the uprights 3|, just below the enlarged end 3|a thereof. Said prongs 38h are adapted to pierce the cards C to securely retain the same in their seated positions in the channels 3| a and 32a. For conveniently releasing the spring strip 38, the extreme end 38o thereof opposite anchor end 36a, may be suitably formed to provide a iinger gripping means. The strip 38 may be flexed for withdrawing the prongs 38h from the opening 3|c to release the cards C for removal thereof from the carrier 30.

Normally a plurality of carrier members 3U with the cards C mounted thereon are positioned in a group or stack in an upright parallel relation with the enlarged ends 3|a and 3| b thereof in abutment, the outwardly facing cards C on the end carriers 30 being in register with the front and rear openings 2217 and 22d and are visible through the windows 23, as is clearly seen from Figures l to 4, inclusive.

The stacked carriers 30 have the bottom or under surfaces of the links 32 and upright ends 3|b resting on a platform plate 40 of inverted U-shaped cross-section, as is shown in Figures 1 and 3. Said plate 4|) may be reinforced by any suitable means, such as spaced triple U-shaped members 4| which have the mid-sections of each thereof 4m secured by means of rivets 42 to` said plate 40, the adjacent offset sections 4|b of each member 4|! being secured to the base 2| by any suitable means such as bolts 43 as is clearly shown in Figure 3.

Extending along the inner side of upper rims of each of the openings 22h and 22d, under the cover plate 22e, there are provided guiding means in the form of inverted reflector channel members 44, each of said channel members having its innermost side iiange 44a covered with a sound absorbing resilient material 45 to serve as guiding means for the upper end portions 3| a of the carrier 30. Said channel members 44 have fitted therein a tubular type of electric bulb or lamp 46 which has suitable clip terminals 46a connected in circuit with suitable wiring 4l. As is seen from Figures 2 and 3 said electric bulbs 46 serve to illuminate the adjacent surface of an advertising card C. It should be noted that the positions of the end carriers 30 may be such that the visible advertising cards C are retained slightly out of the normally perpendicular plane, the surfaces of said cards being positioned to positively intercept the light beams projected from the bulbs 46, as is shown in Figure 3. The inner side flange 44a of the channel members 44 are interconnected by a curved wall 44h to serve as a continuous guiding means for the upper carrier portion 3|a. Said Wall 44h may be covered with the resilient material 45 like that applied to flange 44a.

The carriers 30 are moved from the rear to the front side for exposing the opposite sides of the cards C, in the manner hereinafter described, by means of a continuously running endless chain 50 which rides in a U-shaped track 5|. Said track is located beneath the plate 4U and extends along opposite sides at spaced distances and below the bevel of the openings 22h and 22d. Said chain 50 at one turn rides on a large idler sprocket 52 which is mounted on a shaft 52a supported on a mounting 52h and secured by bolts 52o which project down from the plate 40C, as is shown in Figure 5. The other turn of the chain 50, opposite that engaging with the idler sprocket 52 is driven from a small drive sprocket 53. Said drive sprocket 53 is continuously rotated by any suitable power means, as for example, an electric motor M having an intermediate suitable reduction gearA transmission Gil in the form, as here shown, of a worm and wheel 63a, the worm being mounted to turn with a shaft @0b of the shaft 60o and connected through a sleeve 60d with a bevel gear 50e. The latter engages with a complementary bevel gear f secured to turn with shaft 60g, carrying the drive pinion 53. (See Figures 1 and 4.)

A pedestal casing 6|, enclosing the reduction gear transmission 60, may be provided to rigidly support the motor M on extension portion plate 40a of the plate 48 with the shaft 60h thereof in a vertical extending position. Bolts 62 serve to secure the motor pedestal casing 6| to said plate portion 40a, the latter being provided with end flanges 4Gb which may be bolted, as at 63, to the casing 22, as is shown in Figure l. The stub shaft 60e extends in a horizontal direction and has one end thereof rigidly supported at 6 la from the casing 6| as shown in Figure 4. To align chain 50 at said last turn in passing from the drive sprocket 53 to a straightway portion 50a of the track 5|, a small idler gear 53a is provided, said gear being mounted to turn o-n a shaft 53h extending down from the platform plate portion 48a and positioned with respect to said drive sprocket 53 and the large idler sprocket 52, as shown in Figure 9.

An extension plate portion 48o, situated on the opposite end of plate 4D with respect to plate portion 40a above the sprocket 52, carries an upright inner tubular guiding member 10 of reversed D shape cross-sectional shape. The flat side wall 10a of said member lll extends along a rim edge of the plate 40 in parallel relation to a slideway 40e located between plate 4|! and plate portion 40e, said slideway 40d engaging roller collars 3l 40 motor M, and the wheel being mounted on a stub of the grouped parallelly aligned carriers 30. The semi-circular wall 10b of said member 'l0 is concentric with the large sprocket 52 on which the chain 50 turns, as shown in Figures 9 and l@ The rim edge of platform plate 40, the slideway dile between said plate 40 and plate portion 40a, and the curved rim edge lf of the plate portion 49a. provide an endless guiding means forl the carriers 3i) by engaging and retaining one of the roller collars 3l in operative position with respect to the movement of the chain 50 around the sprocket 52. A similarly constructed slideway 40g is provided between the rim edges of platform plate i9 and plate portion 4Gb.

The chain 5G has secured to turn therewith a puller 50a and side pusher 56h which trails the puller 59a by a distance slightly greater than the length oi a carrier 3G. Said puller 50a eX- tends up from the chain 5D and its path of movement is such as to engage with a leading roller of the carrier 3G which is positioned at rest with a card C thereof visible through window 23 at' rear opening 22d. Said carrier 30 when being moved by a puller 50a in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 9, from said position of rest, passes around the iirst turn with the chain 5D riding on the large idler sprocket 52 until the card C in said carrier 33 registers with the front opening 22D, said carrier 30 being then automatically disengaged from the puller 50a and chain 59 in the manner hereafter to be described.

The carrier 3Q is guided in its movement by the engagement of the collars 3l above each roller 35 with the slideways along the rim edges of platform plate 49 and in lliid and 40g. The rollers 35 being smaller in diameter than the ears 34 or the collars 3l prevent any accidental displacement from said guiding slideways.

In Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and '7, there is shown a sign 2B accommodating ten carriers 30 in stacked or grouped parallel alignment between the front opening 22D and the rear opening 22d, said carriers 3i] having mounted thereon either ten display advertising cards C printed on the front and reverse side oi each or twenty cards printed on one side and two such cards C positioned in back to back relation in each of the carriers 30. EX- tending along the inner front wall 22a of the casing 22 just below the level of the lower rim opening 22h, there is provided a press member 8l), said member forming part of telescop-ing head 8l, which is held resiliently in extended position by any suitable means, such as spaced compre-ssion springs 82 for reciprocating the head 8| within a frame 83. The head 8l aligns with the lower end 3lb of the uprights of the carrier 30 and with the links 32, and serves to provide a constant pressure against the grouped parallelly aligned carriers 3U to resiliently urge the said carriers towards the rear casing window opening 22d. To limit said parallelly aligned carriers in their movement for proper cooperation with the .chain 5i) and puller 59a there is provided a stop abutment projection 82, carried on the plate 48 as shown in Fig. 3. Between platform plate 0 and plate portions lila and de, are the spaced cross slideways 40d and 110g, wherethrough the collars 3l oi the rollers 35 extend, to permit said rollers to freely pass along below the level of the platform 40, while the carriers 30 with the cards C are moved along on the upper side of said platform plate 40.

From the drawings and the above description the operation of the improved sign 2U will now be apparent. The cards C are first mounted in each of'l the :carriers 3E! with the sides and bottom ofA the Cards positioned within the channel 3lb and '32a of the uprights 3l and links 32, respectively. To insert these cards C in place, the spring members 36 are flexed outwardly so that the prong 36h is withdrawn'irom the openings 3io leaving a free passage for the insertion of thecards C into said channels of the carriers 30. The'spring member .33 is then released and each prong 36h is pushed to pierce the cards C so as to enter the openings 3io thereby releasably retaining the cards C in a mounted position in the carriers 30, as is clearly shown in Figures 1l to 13, inclusive.

Preferably the opening 3io in the carrier uprights Bla are made large enough to permit considerabTe play or free movement of the prong 35h therein. This freedom of movement is desirable since on ileXing two cards C mounted in a carrier 30 while passing with the chain 5U around the sprocket 52 on the rst turn free movement of the prong 36D eliminates any tendency of innercurved card C to buckle with respect to the outer curved card C.

Ten of the carriers 3D may then be positioned in abutment and grouped in parallel alignment, as sho-wn in Figure 2, so that the side of the card C in the carrier 30 adjacent to the rear opening 22d is fully exposed to view through the window 23 and the side of the card adjacent to the front opening 22h is fully exposed to view as is seen through vthe front window 23. The press head 8l will then be just short of the fully extended position, abutting the adjacent carrier 39 as is shown in Figures 3 and 4, and the carrier 3B adjacent the rear opening 22d will be in abutment with the stop projection 84.

By throwing a switch S (see Fig. 2) in an on position, power is supplied to the motor M, from a .suitable source (not shown) through wiring il which includes in circuit the lamps 66. Said motor M, through the worm and wheel 60a and the bevel gears 66e and 601 of the transmission Bil rotates Ythe drive sprocket 53 for turning the chain 50 to run on the tracks 5|, the idler sprockets 52 and 53a being rotated by the passage of the chain 50 thereon. As the puller 56a reaches the leading roller 35 on the carrier 3i] positioned adjacent the rear opening 22d, said puller 59a engages with the roller 35 and moves the carrier 39 in the direction of the arrow, as shown in Figure 9. Said carrier 3i] continues to move with the chain 50 around the sprocket 52 and between the inner curved wall 'liib andan outer curved wall 8l spaced from the wall 19h as shown in Figures l, 2, 4, 8 and 9. The carrier 30 with the cards C in making the turn with the chain 50 around the sprocket 52 pivot the links 32 of said carrier 3i) and ex the advertising cards C.

Where two cards C are used back to back, the card C which was visible at the rear opening 22d through the window 23 is now moved around by the carrier 30 until the said card C is in register with the front openings 22h. The roller collar 31 on the leading end of said carrier 30 will then have been deilected slightly by a camming portion 49h provided at the entering end 'of the cross-slideway 45g. The roller collar 3l at the rear end of the carrier 30 then is in alignment with the slideway 49d.

Since one of the carriers 3E) has been moved out of the parallelly aligned group on the platform Mi, there are only nine carriers 30 left in said parallelly aligned position, the arrival of the transferredfcarrier 30 from the rear opening 22d to the front opening 22h in the wall 22a first causes the press head 8| to retract, that is, pushed back and then to become effective for assisting the pushing of such transferred carrier 30 into an aligning position with the remaining nine carriers. Meanwhile the side pusher 58h carried by the chain 58 has contacted with the rear or trailing roller 35 and moves the collar 31 thereof into the slideway 48d. This action and the pressure exerted by the head 8| forces and retains all ten carriers 38 into abutment on the platform plate 48. There will be exposed to view at the rear opening 22d of the wall 22o the advertising card C opposite to that which was previously exposed to View at the front opening 22h of the Wall 22a. 'Ihus it is seen that each of the back to back cards C on a carrier 38 is brought into View first on the rear side, then again on the transfer by the carrier 38 from said rear side to the front side. Thereafter the other side of said card C is brought into view at the rear opening 22d, this cycle being automatically repeated.

The chain 50 moves continuously and since each carrier 30 after being brought in alignment with the front opening 22h is moved by the side pusher 58h and pressure head 8| inwardly away from the path of movement of the chain 58, the puller 58a is left free and does not become effective again until it occupies the same relative position as above described. The puller 58m is freed from the roller 35 at the leading end of the carrier 38 due to the camming movement exerted by the slideway portion 48h.

'Ihe above cycle of operation is continuously repeated and the carriers 30, one by one, are intermittently transferred from the rear to the front side of the sign 28 as described above, the speed of the chain 58 being designed to permit the advertising cards C to remain at rest for a predetermined desired time during which the puller 58a is ineffective permitting the legends on the cards C to be read. Should the drive fail or the power to the motor M be cut oiT for any length of time while a carrier 30 is partly in the position of being transferred from the rear to the front no serious difficulty will be experienced because of any set in the material of the advertising cards C due to bending in being flexed between the curved walls 18b and 81, since said cards C are always unfiexed and flattened out by the carrier 38, as the latter is moved by the chain 58 to a straightened out position at the front opening 22h.

As seen in Figure 9 the portion 5ML of the track 5| extending adjacent the rear wall opening 22d! is nonparallel to the straightway portion of said track 5| extending adjacent the front wall opening 22h, or to the plane of the adjacent carriers 38 on the platform plate 40, that is, the track portion 5|a is out of alignment with the carrier 38 which is ready to be transferred from the rear to the front of the sign 20. The angular or side displacement of the track portion 5|a carrying the chain 58 which has the puller 58a extending therefrom with respect to the plane of the carrier 38, is such that the puller 58a is brought into engagement with the leading roller 35 after clearing and passing said trailing roller. Thus by the above simple expedient intermittent engaging of the puller 58a and the leading roller 35 is accomplished without the intervention of cams, or other similar operating interconnecting mechanism.

In order to avoid any possible jamming or other disarrangement of the carrier 38 during the transferred movement there may be provided a ramp deflecting guide 98 which extends from the lower end of the wall 18h on the exit side of the path from the rear to the front side of the sign for causing the front or leading roller 35 to engage with a spring actuated arm or gate 9| pivoted at 92 to swing in the path of movement of the rollers 35 of the carrier 30. As the leading end of the carrier 30 passes around between the wall 18h and 81, it is deflected outwardly by the ramp 98 to swing the arm 9| and thereby permit the passage of the carrier 38 to the front side of the sign. As soon as both rollers 35 of the carrier 38 register with the slideways 40h and 48e, respectively, the side pusher 58h and the press head 8| becomes effective to push the carrier 38 rearward and the gate 9| is then freed and by a spring 93 is again moved from the position shown in Figure to that shown in Figure 9 to serve as a barrier or stop for preventing any back movement of the roller collar 31 from the slideway 40e.

It will thus be seen that there is provided an advertising display card sign in which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a device of the character described, a carrier for an advertising card comprising spaced uprights interconnected by links, said uprights and links having channels for receiving edge portions of the card.

2. In a device of the character described, a carrier formed of jointed parts, and means for retaining an advertising card to the carrier flexed and unexed on movement of said jointed parts.

3. In combination, a carrier and a flexible sheet secured to said carrier, said carrier comprising spaced uprights, links interconnecting said uprights, and means for seating the card between said uprights and on said links.

4. In a device of the character described, a carrier for an advertising card comprising spaced uprights interconnected by links, said uprights and links having channels for receiving edge portions of the card, and means for releasably fastening the cards in said channels.

5. In combination, a carrier, a flexible sheet, said carrier comprising spaced uprights, links interconnecting said uprights, means for seating the card between said uprights and on said links, and releasable means on the carrier for locking the card thereto.

6. In a device of the character described, a carrier for an advertising card comprising spaced uprights interconnected by links, said uprights and links having channels for receiving edge portions of the card, and means on said carrier for engaging a power drive.

'7. In a device of the character described, a carrier formed of jointed parts, means for retaining an advertising card to the carrier exed and unflexed on movement of said jointed parts, and an extension on one of said parts for applying power to move said carrier.

8. In combination, a carrier and a exible sheet secured to said carrier, said carrier comprising spaced uprights, links interconnecting said uprights, means for seating the card between said uprights and on said links, and a power receiving projection on one of said uprights.

9. In a device of the character described, a carrier for an advertising card comprising spaced uprights interconnected by links, said uprights and links having channels for receiving edge portions of the card, means for releasably fastening the cards in said channel, and a projection eX- tendng from an upright adapted to engage With 5 a chain drive.

EDWARD FISH. 

